1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lighting systems for undercabinet use or for mounting in a display cabinet and in particular to modular fluorescent tube lighting systems that include an integral tube removal arrangement.
2. Prior Art
Lighted display cases or cabinets with glass covered faces through which products maintained within which cases or cabinets can be viewed have long been known and in common use. As have modular container mounted incandescent and fluorescent tube lights arranged for screw mounting to the undersurface of a cabinet, or the like.
Heretofore a number of light socket and fixture arrangements have been developed, with examples of lamp sockets shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,303,156 to Bryant, et al; 2,569,662 and Fallek. Fixture arrangements for illuminating a display cabinet, or the like, are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 661,505to Erikson; 665,264 to Petz; 723,943 to Taussig, et al; 845,652 to La Berge; 1,134,132 to Hotchkin; 1,764,999 to Biller; 1,927,254 to Benjamin; 3,064,124 to Husby, et al, 4,464,707 to Forrest; 4,598,341 to Brackhahn, et al; and 4,739,454 to Federgreen. Also a lamp fixture for an instrument is shown in a U.S. Pat. No. 2,982,847 to Enright. None of the lighting arrangements of the above cited patents, however, employ the particular modular fluorescent tube lighting system with an integral tube extractor like that of the present invention.
A modular lighting assembly is shown in a U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,800 to Pelletier, and the present inventor is the inventor of three U.S. patents for lamp systems and housings, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,535,393; 4,994,943; and 5,040,101. None of these light and lighting systems patents, however, show the particular modular fluorescent tube lighting system of the present invention where the housing is shaped together and does not have fasteners, as screws, nuts, or other connectors, presenting a smooth surface appearance. Similar to the present invention, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,393 to Aspenwall does include a lamp positioning device, and tubular lamp locking devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,336,587 to Bixby, 2,663,851 to Pistey; and 3,466,594 to Detch. Which devices are, however, structurally unlike the double fluorescent tube extractor included with the present invention.